Toy house



April 1, 1924. I 1,488,872

C. W. FAIRCHILD TOY HOUSE Filed July 31, 1919 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 ma/8w rum/mm BYWVM HIS HTTORJVEYJ.

- April 1 1924. 1,488,872

7 C. W. FAIRCHILD TOY HOUSE I Filed July 31 1919 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 April 1 1924.

( C. W. FAIRCHILD TOY HOUSE Filed July 31 1919 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG. 3

BYW/M Ills flTTORNEV-S.

April 1 '1924. 1,488,872

(3. w. EAIRCHILD TOY HOUSE Filed July 31 1919 4 Sheets-Sheet '4 ,ws firm/awa s.

Patented Apr. 1, 1924-.

UNITE-E STATES CHARLES FAIRCHILD, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

TOY HOUSE.

Application filed July 31,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES W. Fix n- CHILD, a citizen of the United States, resident of Minneapolis, county of Hennepin,

State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Toy Houses, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in toy houses of the sectional orknock-down type.

An object of this invention is to provide an easily assembled and demounted toy house.

Another object is to provide a toy house which is a substantially rigid structure when assembled and which provides easy means of access to the house interior when the structure has been assembled.

Other objects of the invention will more fully appear from the following description and the accompanying drawings and will be pointed out in the annexed claims.

In the accompanying drawings, there has been disclosed a structure to carry out the objects of the invention, but it is to be understood that the invention is not confined to the specific features shown as various changes may be made within the scope of the claims which follow.

Figure 1 is asubstantially isometric per: spective of the house, showing the base, two

' walls and rods;

"Figu're'Z is a similar View with partitions and floors added;

Figure 3 is a similar view of a later stage of assembly;

Figure & is a view showing the method of hanging an outside wall.

The major parts of this sectional house comprise broadly abase which may be a bottom floor or may be composed of base members, which assembled form the base or foundation; the upright members, which term includes the outside walls and partitions; the transverse members, which includes the floors and the upper covering which may be simply the ceiling of the upper floor or a roof; the upright elements, which in this selected embodiment of the invention are shownas rods upwardly extending through one or more floors; and the transverse elements which are here shown as rods horizontally extending across the house structure. For convenience of reference the two outside walls shown'in here disclosed.

1219. Serial no. 314,420.

Figure 1 may be termed the end walls, while the remaining outside'walls may be termed the side-wallsof the house.

'VVhile various sheet materials may be employed in the fabrication of this structure, it is preferably formed of card-board or fibre-board. I

" lVhile the foundation or base may be simply the bottom floor, it is preferably formed by the assembly of the side base members 1 and 2, and the joists 3. These joists. are terminally secured to the side members 1 and 2 by means of Us t, which may be detachably secured to the joists and to the side base members 1 and 2 by any suitable means, such as by an ordinary headed paper fastener or by bolt and nut,

. as shown.

' In the structure here shown, base members are preferably omitted atthe ends of the structure and the end walls 5 and ,6 form the other two sides of the rectangular base The four corners of the thus-formed base are provided with corner bracket supports 7, detachably secured to the sidebase members and end walls and i which are adapted to support the four corner upright elements.

shown as held U-shaped supports 28 secured to one of the joists 3, while'additional upright rods may be added to support and brace different portions of the structure,

such, for example, as a rod 10 provided to brace a particular partition and floor section; A transverse element such as a rod 11 extendsacross thebase and projects through and be'yond the end walls, the joists 3 and 'end walls being apertured to permit its passage therethrough. One end of this rod 11 may be headed or axially bent to engage one end wall and the other end may be provided with a demountable fastening such as is attained bythreading aportion of the end and screwing a knurled nut thereon. This transverse element imparts increased strength and rigidity to the base assembly.

I V These upright elements are preferably formed of metallic This embodiment of the novel toy house disclcses'more than one floor, although obviously this invention comprehends a structure of one story or several. In Figure 2 the first floor 12 rests upon the base, being apertured to permit the passage therethrough of the upright rods. Ample support therefor is provided by the side members 1 and 2, the joists 3 and also by the top faces of the lishaped supports 28 on the joists and of the corner bracket support 7. .z-in upper floor 13 suitably apertured to permit assage of the rods may be supported and properly spaced from the lower floor by means of sleeves 14 slipped over the end of the upright rods, each sleeve ugol a length equal to the spaced relation which it is deiired that two contiguous tioors have. Furthermore, transverse element such as a rod 15 extends across the interior and, projecting through and beyond the end walls, is fastened in position similarly to the rod 11. This rod 15 functions to reinforce the assembled wall structure by binding the two end walls against the edges of the floors, Likewise an upper floor be supported by means of the upper edge of partitions, such, for example, as the partition 16. Due to the fact that the floors are apertured to permit the pets sage therethrough of the plurality of up right rods, the floors are held against lateral movement. A convenient and easy mode of, retaining a partition in place is afforded by means of the clips 17' secured to the interior face of a wall onto a floor and presenting a groove into which the edge of a partition may be introduced. A plurality ot'such partition clips 17 are shown on an end wall in Figure 1 andare shown, with the partitions in place, in Figure 2 wherein a floor clip 17 is also shown. Similarly, one partition 18 may be held in posi tion by another partition 19 by means of such clips 17. 7 Another mode of retainingpartitions in position is afl'orded by means of loops 20 secured to the partitions and adapted to receive therethrough an upright rod, such, for example as is shown on the median partition 21 in Figure 2. As here shown, a pair of loops 20 is secured adjacent to edge of the partition 19 while another pair is secured to the partition 21, both pairs receiving therethrough the rod 9. While the majority of the upright rods are shown as extending from base to the upper story of the structure, itis sometimes desirable to employ shorter upright elements such as the rod 22, shown in Figure 2 TiliS rod 22 extends only the distance or oneftioor as its function is to retain in rs tion a pair of partitions on a single near.

we!) transverse member or covering the s icture is shown in. Figure 3,

- section.

although a further covering in simulation of a conventional roof is preferably added. In this figure the ends of the upright rods are shown with the threaded end portions bearing knurled nuts which are turned down upon their respective rods to exert a pressure on the covering to give the desired strength and rigidity to the structure.

It is desirable to allot-d easy access to the interior oi the assembled structure inorder that children in amusing themselves with it may place objects, such as to furniture, in the various rooms. This is accomplished by making one or more of the outside walls quickly and easily demountable. To this and both side walls in this embodiment are hooked on and supported by the upper covering, while their lower portions are held against the djacent base portions. As shown in Figures 3 and 4;, the upper covering, which in this case is the upper transverse. member forming the ceiling of the second floor, bears catches 23 adapted each to receive one of the hooks 2 1 secured to the side wall. T he bottom portion of each side wall is clamped against the adjacent base member. For this purpose there are provided a plurality of sectional transverse rods. The end portions of each rod projcct beyond the base members which are apertured to permit their passage. These end portions are terminably bent to form clampin lingers 25 adapted to be turned to engage the lower edge portion of a side wall and clamp it against the adjacent base member, as shown on the left in Figure 3.

The arrangement 0'! these sectional rods is shown in Figure 1, wherem it may be seen that each is provided with a tension middle In the simple form disclosed it consists of an elastic member, such as a strip of rubber, secured'at each end to a clampingsection of a rod. The rubber strip being normally under tension exerts constant force on the rod ends, tending inwardly to pull them and, hence, when the side walls are positioned, a tensioned clamping function is afforded to hold the side walls in position. Each wall may be removed by simply lifting it when the hooks disengage and the wall is likewise released from the clamps.

A roof 26 may be added and may be of the peaked type and rest upon the extended peaked tops of the end walls. Several transverse rods 27 are provided adjacent the top of the end walls, and, extending across the house, project through and beyond the opposed end wall. These rods are likewise bent at one end and threaded at the other to receive a nut which may be turned down to hold the end walls in a substantially rigid spaced relation and against the edges of the floors.

By the employment of the novel construction, a whole side of the house may be removed or even two sides and the roof, without interterin with or in any manner weakening, the structural rigidity of the remainder. The parts are easily assembled and demounted without the use of any tools, the number of accessory parts is small, and the rigidity and durability are sufficient to stand up well under the excessive wear and rough usage to which these toy houses are subject.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a sectional toy house, the combination of a base, upright members, U'HDSVQ'LSE, members, rods connected to the base and upwardly projecting to support a plurality of transverse members, and sleeves on said upwardly projecting rods to hold the transverse members in spaced relation.

2. In a sectional toy house, the combination of a base, outside walls, an upper transverse member, and co-operating means on an outside wall and on the transverse member whereby the outside wall is demountably suspended from said transverse member.

3. In a sectional toy house, the combination of a base, outside walls, an upper transverse member, co-operating means on an outside wall and on the transverse member whereby the outside wall is demountzbly suspended from said transverse member, and means on the base to hold said outside wall in position. p

4. In a sectional toy house, the combination of a base, outside walls, an upper ransverse member, means on an outside wall and the transverse member to support said wall from said transverse member, and tension means to hold said wall in position.

5. In a sectional toy house, the combination of a base, side walls, end walls, an upper transverse member, means on said side walls and transverse member to support the side walls from said member, and clamping means on the base to hold the side walls in position.

' 6. In a sectional toy house, the combination of a base, outside walls, an upper transverse member, in ans on opposed walls to support the same from said member, sectional rods having opposed ends projecting beyond opposed sides of the base and terminally bent to engage the lower edge por tions of said opposed walls, a tension section in each rod whereby the end portions of the rods are normally drawn inwardly and the portions of the walls thereby tensionably held. against the base.

7. In a sectional toy house, the combination of outside walls, and an upper transverse member, hooking means on the upper portion or" one of the outside walls, and means on said transverse member engageable with said hooking means whereby said wall may be suspended from the transverse member and easily disengaged to expose the interior of said house.

8. In a sectional toy house, the combination of a base, outside walls, transverse members and partitions, upright rods to secure the base and transverse members in positioned relation, and means on the'partitions to engage said rods to hold the partitions in positioned relation.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 25th day of July, 1919.

CHARLES W. FAIROHILD. 

